My first few weeks

LPCUWC - a mixture of nationalities, a range of emotions, a lot of hard work and fun, and a forum to have the most amazing and interesting talks. It's been almost 2 weeks since I've come to a place totally different from the place I lived before. The Orientation week was definitely tiring, but a lot of fun and a chance to get to know as many people as I possibly could from this college. The part I loved most was the hiking. Before coming to LPCUWC I had believed I was a great athlete - having won the Athlete of the School in 2008. However, I realized when I was hiking that my achievement was not all that great considering how tired I got while hiking. Though, what I loved most about it was that even though it was simply hiking, it was a matter of challenging yourself to push on, go up, and be strong. By the end of it, I felt stronger, and I would like to think that it must have improved my stamina quite a bit. There are times in this college when you have the most interesting conversations with someone coming from, let's say - Palestine, Russia or India. There have always been questions in my mind that were formed when I read something about these countries in the Dawn newspaper sitting on the dining table on a Sunday afternoon in Karachi, Pakistan. I always wondered, always thought of talking to someone who give me a first-hand account of those events or ideas. It is here in LPC that you can talk about issues and events and get view points from a variety of people. There are times when I miss Pakistan. I have always had a habit of keeping in touch with Pakistani news, politics, sports etc. and I have not lost this habit in LPC. Everytime I read about the Pakistani floods, the dirty politics and sports scandals, I think about the effort that I could make to somehow improve my country. There are times when I feel completely helpless sitting here in a foreign land, reading about disasters occuring in my country, whereas if I was there physically, I would have gone to Royale Rodale, or PAF Museum to help out with the packing of the goods to be sent to the flood victims. If I was there, I could go volunteer to teach poor students in a school called Behbud. However, I do realize that I can make a difference here too. My second year from Pakistan and I hope to create a presentation about the Pakistan floods and show it to the whole college, and work towards trying to get donations for the flood victims here in LPC. I am greatly looking forward to the Quan Cai -CAS activities to start so I can re-start my community service and campus service, so that I feel a sense of purpose. The fact that I am away from home does not mean that I cannot make a difference in people's lives here. I have joined Help for domestic helpers, a community service, through which I will help helpers in Hong Kong, coming from Phillipines and other areas get legal advice in order to get justice for the unfair attitude towards them here. This will not only let me help someone, but also enable me to understand legal terms and practices which may be very useful because I do have a dream of studying Law. I have also joined MUN, a creativity Quan Cai, which will enable me to think diplomatically and be creative, come up with new ideas, broaden my horizons. For Action, I hope to do either Kung Fu or Squash, or both. I feel like Kung Fu is an important part of Chinese culture and that I should take advantage of the fact that I have come to the UWC in Hong Kong! Squash is a great corporate sport I think and I particularly enjoy playing it. The classes here are extremely challenging -particularly the higher level ones. The most challenging class for me would have to be English A1 higher, because it is meant for native speakers, and I am not a native speaker. However I feel that I will be able to take up this challenge, because I do intend to study Law, and I understand that this subject is neccessary for enabling me to think critically and logically. My other higher level subjects are history and economics. I particularly love history because it involves a lot of politics as well, and since I was not able to take political thought (could not fit it in my timetable) I will still be able to study most of it in history. I also love economics because of the fact that I have done economics very thoroughly in my old school. I had one of the most amazing economics teachers in my old school who passed away during my last days in the school. I particularly miss here as she was my mentor, my role model. She was the one, along with other teachers who had appointed me as Head girl and I will never forget here. My other subjects include environmental systems and studies which is particularly interesting, because I consider myself an environmentalist. I have worked with the government as well as WWF to plant mangroves, explore Keti Bander, and helped in spreading awareness about the environment. It also means a lot to me because of the floods that are going on in Pakistan due to global warming. My other subjects are maths and spanish. I have always loved Spanish, Spain and the spanish culture. Spanish ab intitio is definitely one of the most interesting classes and I hope to be able to converse well in spanish and go to spain for a holiday soon :)
Now, I must go to attend the rest of my classes for the day, have lunch, do my homework, possibly see or practice a bollywood dance for the CAFE event on Saturday, and just experience various talks, events, people here in LPC!!

LPCUWC - a new beginning

I have had to struggle a lot in my life. However, I feel that every struggle has made me a stronger and a better person. Soon I will be leaving for Hong Kong to attend the Li Po Chun United World College of Hong Kong and it is with this attitude that I intend to start my new life:

“Sometimes, struggles are exactly what we need in our life. If we were to go through our life without any obstacles, we would be crippled. We would not be as strong as what we could have been. Give every opportunity a chance, leave no room for regrets.”

I cannot say how truly blessed I feel to be able to attend such a prestigious school. It is a new beginning, a new life where I hope to excel in whatever I do.

I will be updating this blog with my new experiences to keep friends and family updated, as well as to keep a record of them.